Weekend Revolution

To anyone who says America has not yet achieved fascism, I say, “maybe, but at what point would you have found it reasonable and convenient to resist the Nazis? They did not begin with the Holocaust, you know.” All over the world, people mourn and rage at the U.S. government’s failure to respond to ordinary political pressure. The evil and nonsense just go on, and reasons for impeaching the entire Bush administration are too many to fit in this column. Smart or moral commentators damn or mourn our politics and ask “but what CAN we DO?”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Congress dithers then dithers some more. The leading Democratic presidential candidates assure us they are just as willing to go nuclear as the pro-torture folks. Destroying the Constitution enjoys bipartisan support, people are dying by the thousands, and Americans grow ever more fearful of their own government, not to mention their employers, bankers, and telephone companies.
Some advise street protests of millions marching through Washington, others the quiet of prayer or abandonment of hope. Quite a few seem to have fled the country. Some think just a few more letters to Congress will do the trick. Others think the solution is to elect Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, or Ron Paul. Some people think Hillary Clinton is the answer. What has any of it accomplished? It has slowed the pro-torture crowd down a little, a mighty little. There are those who hint that a bloody revolution is now the only solution.
Revolution is now the only solution, but I am obsessed with making it bloodless. I am not a pacifist, but not a damned fool either. Regular readers may remember the Third Weekend Project, which was doomed from the start because I just threw the idea out there. It has been a year since I advocated a monthly boycott – no work for pay, no driving, no shopping – at least two days a month, preferably on the third weekend of each month. I hoped empty streets and malls would shake the corporations from their perches of power. Since that column, three people have let me know they are trying it. Including my husband and me, that makes five people. We five are not going to topple the corporate government.
Pledge to Impeach, however, proposes a well thought out general strike. Californian Anthony St. Martin did not just throw an idea out there. He founded Pledge to Impeach to do more than beg, write letters, and march. Some heavy-duty organizing and a realistic plan are needed, along with a serious promise of real consequences for our leaders’ failure to act. I have been urging anyone who will listen to go to www.pledgetoimpeach.org and sign the Pledge to participate in a 72-hour, three-day general strike if the following conditions apply:
1. Sufficient numbers of Americans have pledged to frighten Congress with the very idea of three days of no working, buying, or traveling; three days of most of us sitting inside our homes
2. Enough Americans have signed the pledge to offer some job security to the most vulnerable workers among us.
3. Congress refuses to act on impeaching Bush, Cheney, et al.
4. Organizers call the strike.
What are sufficient numbers? We have 4,000 pledges so far, not nearly enough. Who is willing to help? I am asking you, yeah, you, to help, but a list of those who have refused says a lot about how urgent our situation is. Although several labor organizations and impeachment groups are working with Pledge to Impeach, St. Martin says the following have been unwilling to help: most of the labor movement, Vote to Impeach, Move On, the Democratic Party and After Downing Street. He has been cold shouldered by the staffs of Dennis Kucinich, John Conyers and Barbara Boxer, and that is just the politicians and organizations my arthritic hands were quick enough to note during the interview. If St. Martin were some kind of shrill crank, I could understand the reaction, but he is a calm, smart, articulate straight-talker.
I suspect the problem with Pledge to Impeach is exactly that it is not merely radical, but also practical and well thought out. Things that just might work usually do scare people, especially powerful people. Maybe the problem is Pledge to Impeach is nonpartisan, that we understand both political parties, many religious organizations, the labor movement and even “Bush haters” have betrayed the American worker. Maybe the problem is Pledge to Impeach is not about left right black white brown straight gay Christian Muslim Jew. Maybe the problem is that Pledge to Impeach really is about right and wrong and the rule of law.
St. Martin related how Senator Barbara Boxer’s staff attorney informed him that Congress could not reverse an executive order. The Senator’s lawyer then backpedaled and admitted that it was more a case of Congress being unwilling to do anything about government by executive order. This “focusing of extraordinary powers into the executive office is the number one, king-of-the-hill problem. It has dismantled our Republic,” St. Martin said.
He believes the current mess goes back to 1981, when President Reagan fired striking air-traffic controllers. “It started with union busting, because unions are all about recourse, and the federal government and the powers in general don’t like that,” he said, “When we lost power in the workplace, we immediately lost the power of representation in government...Now management owns our government and management owns us.”
But can his plan possibly work? Even St. Martin describes his efforts as, “shoveling shit against the tide.” Others have tried to organize general strikes, and they always failed, right? Actually, no. They have worked in many other countries, even in poor old America. Remember that general strike of immigrants this past spring? How many of them lost their jobs? Did they get our attention? The immigrants’ general strike was well organized and conceived, and it was a success. Can the American people do what Hispanic immigrants did?
What if you get fired? St. Martin said we will peaceably retaliate against any company that fires workers by blacklisting them and enforcing a one-month boycott per worker. So, fire 50 people, enjoy a 50-month boycott.
• I love the Pledge to Impeach plan and pledge because:
• It uses the power we retain, the only power corporations and their politicians understand: our money, time and attention.
• It does not want my money, just my time, commitment, and sacred honor.
• It does not ask me to use violence on my neighbors.
• Violence against us would be unlikely, because the plan calls for all strikers to remain in their homes. The pro-torture cowards would have to break into a lot of houses.
• It will not happen unless enough people sign up to make a difference.
With any luck, it will not happen at all. The mere threat of a general strike might be enough to get our so-called leaders to listen and lead.
Even if the strike does not trigger the impeachment of Bush, Cheney, et al, even if the corporate system does not falter, a massive general strike by the American people would tell a scared world how many of us do not approve of the people running our country. If we want to regain respect from the world for us, as a people, we have to go on strike.
The Third Weekend Project, silly as it might be, makes good practice for a general strike. Here are some helpful hints for using your Third Weekend to prepare:
• Go to www.pledgetoimpeach.org and sign the pledge, then volunteer to help organize. St. Martin does not seem to have the energy or the mental illness necessary to be the dictator of Pledge to Impeach. We need island communities of resisters to do the work and make the decisions. First decision: Start governing yourself again.
• Use your Third Weekends to take a walk and get to know your neighbors. Sign up your commonly decent neighbors for Pledge to Impeach.
• Don’t whine because you can’t go running out for a six pack. Becoming a nation of self-indulgent surrender monkeys helped get us into this mess.
• Plan how you will strike. Will you call in with the flu? Should you tell your boss you are mad as hell? Is there a chance he is mad as hell too and you should recruit him? Do you work in a truly critical occupation? Firefighters probably should not strike, but the secretaries at the rescue squad definitely should.
• Read the Constitution, or at least the Bill of Rights.
• Read some tax regulations and forms. Can you find a way to pay less tax to the pro-torture government? (Believe me, this one is HARD!)
• Pray. Pray. Then pray again.
• Ask yourself: Have I ever stopped speaking to a friend longer than I refused to shop at a store that cheated me? Can I grow up enough to be nicer to real people than I am to corporations?
• Use your Third Weekends to practice living like a real person again.